Flame of Cytherea: Cytherean Chronicles book 1 (15 page)

She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep…

---------

Nora was having trouble getting to sleep.
 
After Sally had killed the mage she had
tracked where he was and made sure of him, cutting off his head.
 
She was glad no one had seen, she had been
crying while she did it and not entirely in control of herself.

None of the other women seemed to have the same
reaction.
 
Once Justin broke the spell
and they snapped back to reality, she knew it hadn’t hit them as hard.
 
She loved Justin, and swore to herself she
would never leave his side, would always be there to protect him.
 
Like she hadn’t been for her sisters, when
she had simply slept through their slaughter.

How could she sleep while those she loved were butchered?

Somehow, against her will even, she had found a new family,
and a man to love, a good man.

And a fucking piece of shit asshole gets her to forget her
promise with a damn spell?
 
It failed to
make any sense to her.
 
She was terrified
by that fact.
 
And although none of them
had died, it was apparent to her she had failed… again.

What if she wasn’t so lucky next time?

It was a long time before she fell asleep, unshed tears
gleaming in her eyes.

-----------

Sally’s mind wasn’t on the battle at all, it was on her sex
life with Justin.
 
The problem of course
being that it was non-existent.
 
She was
feeling a lot more confident about who she was.
 
It had just taken time.
 
She
thought that had been what he was waiting for, but still she waited.

She knew who she was, she also knew what she wanted,
him.
 
And she was tired of waiting for
him to ask.
 
She decided if he didn’t ask
her by tomorrow afternoon, she would ask him herself, and damn tradition.

She felt much better once she made her choice, after all,
either way, she wouldn’t have to wait anymore, and if he said no, she could
move on.
 
She closed her eyes and fell
into a deep peaceful sleep.

----------

Cytherea looked down pensively.
 
She was worried and knew she should have more
faith in the people she helped bring together.
 

“What disturbs you so daughter?”

She smiled, wondering that she had ever hated the presence
behind her.

“I just worry too much, Justin still has far to go, if he is
willing, and they face trouble ahead that will strain their relationship.
 
Justin has worked hard to develop strong ties,
and I hope that will be enough, but their time together has been so short.
 
Being tested by enemies is easy, the actions
of those closer to home however…”

She smiled wryly when he said, “Trust in love daughter,
surely you of all would agree…”

She did trust in love of course, but it became an issue when
love pulled someone in two different directions…

-----------

Oh god he thought as he woke up with a warm hot mouth
working his length.
 
He wasn’t sure why
Kat woke him up every morning with a blowjob, but he sure as heck wasn’t going
to question it.
 
He clamped down his lips
on a gasp as he felt her swallow down on the tip of his manhood.
 
When they were alone she teased him
mercilessly, holding him on the edge seemingly forever.

But in the morning out in the general tent, she took him
fast, without fail.
 
She was doing
something with her tongue and lips that drove him crazy each and every time, he
wasn’t even sure he could describe it accurately, all he knew was, it was both
incredibly intense and bound to make him cum in seconds.

He closed his eyes and put his head back, trying not to
grunt or gasp out loud as he shot his hot sticky load into her warm wet and
willing mouth.
 
He watched as she crawled
up his body sexily, that always made him want to take her, but he just kissed
her when she said good morning,.

“Good morning to you too love,” he whispered in her ear as
he pulled her close.

When they were all awake and breakfast was put away he let
them all know he was heading for the village.
 
He wanted to check things out, heal anyone that may have been harmed
during the short occupation of enemy soldiers.

Nora and Sally immediately said they would come with and he
headed for the village.
 
He noticed Nora
looked a bit tense, and seemed to be staying even closer to him than
usual.
 
He wasn’t sure what that was
about, but let it play in the back of his head for a while.
 
Sally however, was her usual bubbly self and
kept him engaged in conversation all morning.

He did heal a few broken legs and some contusions, but it
seemed like this village got off lightly.
 
They were still missing a number of people, and he wondered if they
could get them back somehow.
 
He couldn’t
help but notice Sally was being more of a flirt today, and started feeling very
annoyed about that feeling he had.
 
Her
hands would rest a little too long on his arm in a seemingly innocent touch, or
the way she looked at him in the eyes just a few seconds longer than normal.

But his feelings had yet to fail him and he persevered,
trying not to think too hard about her creamy brown skin, and large deep brown
eyes.
 
The feel of her touch on his skin
that almost burned.

Or the very long dark black hair that shined in the sunlight
and lightly brushed the small of her back as she walked.
 
Or the way her perfectly rounded ass swayed
as she walked.
  
Her beautiful joyful and
full smile as she talked to him.
 
He took
a deep breath; thinking about it certainly wasn’t helping his cause.

He saw a store that had some jewelry and considered that he
still had no money at all.
 
He of course
only worked at Kat’s tavern for a day and a half before they ran off to help
with the invasion.
 
The women had
explained to him as a Flame of Cytherea, everything he needed would be provided
in one way or another.
 
That his title
earned that right in some way.

He was okay with that for now, he was earning it after all
in what he had been doing, but once things calmed down he knew he would
evaluate it again.

He frowned.
 
That wasn’t
going to help him buy gifts for the ladies though.
 
Although he wondered if that was just an
Earth concept, none of them seemed to expect anything like that.
 
Just his love and attention, and that he had
a lot of to give.

They went back toward the camp around lunchtime and went to
the main tent where they usually ate.
 
Nicci and Kat had their heads together, and he wondered what they were
talking about, but dismissed it.
 
Not
everything was about him, and even keeping track of one woman wasn’t right,
he’d go insane if he tried to keep track of everything going on around him with
four.

When Anton came in with a few soldiers carrying their lunch,
they sat down and dug in.

Curiously he asked Anton, “How soon do you think those
troops you asked for will get here?”

Anton looking taken aback said, “I sent a scout to cancel
them, since this is over we have no need of them anymore.”

He hated that his voice came out so uncertain and confused,
“Over?
 
How is it over?”

“The invasion force was decimated, any left are running for
the border.
 
Like I said,” Anton
shrugged, “it’s over.”

He sat back as he struggled to fit what Anton was saying
into what he was thinking.
 
Finally he
asked, “What about the slaves they took, will you leave them to their
fate?
 
Not to mention the dark god that
started this war.
 
Something needs to be
done there as well.”

Anton frowned and put down his drink.

“I’d like nothing better than to charge south and retrieve
our people.
  
But we lost close to five
thousand soldiers which is half the military, kingdom wide.
 
We can’t afford to invade
Egeria
,
we would have to empty the kingdom of soldiers to be successful, and although
we have peaceful relations for the most part with the northern kingdom of
Uleni
, they may decide to attack us if they sense we are
weak.

“No, my duty is to keep the kingdom safe.
 
This war is finished.
 
Besides, I could not order an invasion, only
the king could.
 
You are welcome to try
and convince him if you want,” offered Anton doubtfully.

He was confused, this wasn’t a normal war.
 
Nora had convinced him that day to go north
and help the army, that it was a war against an evil dark god.
 
She had said that evil must be stopped.
 
He had followed at that understanding.
 
He felt he owed Cytherea at that point as
well, for saving his life if nothing else.
 
After, he had started to love his goddess as he felt her love through
his talent.

He had been upset by the idea of this world being taken over
by evil, not the least of which was because it was his new home, or would
be.
 
That was the fight, stopping this
king, not because of a stupid invasion, but because he had summoned an evil god
into the world for power.
 
Defeating the
invasion was important, he couldn’t live with himself if he ignored what had
gone on around him.
 
But those were small
stakes in comparison.

He had always assumed it was just a first step.
 
Stop the invasion, and then stop the dark god
from getting more of a foothold on this world.
 
Stop him from corrupting the magic of the goddess and taking the souls
of greedy foolish men.
 
Of course, he had
no idea how to stop that from happening.
 
He just knew if he did nothing, he would never figure it out.

He couldn’t even order it, which he’d have been loath to do
anyway, the prince had declared the war over.
 
The oath was dissolved at that point.

Anton looked a little guilty and offered more, “Even if my
father says no, you may want to consult with the main temple of the goddess in
the capitol.
 
They may have knowledge or
writings about the last Flame a thousand years ago, knowledge you may need if
you truly intend to confront a god.”

Confront a god?
 
Not
likely he thought.
 
Remove the invite
somehow?
 
Maybe.
 
If there was a way for a god to be let in,
maybe they could be forced out somehow?
 
Free will swung both ways, but he was sure it would be more complicated
than sending an eviction notice.
 
He
decided it was kind of crazy actually and he was trying not to examine it too
much, or he might decide to find a nice hole with some nice soft dirt to hide
in.

Then he wondered where the women fell in all of this.
 
He hadn’t actually addressed this before,
thinking it was understood, would they all be behind him?

He looked around the table trying to discern where the women
fell in this.
 
Nora looked slightly
ashamed, and he realized the sentiment was toward her Prince as she nodded her
head in an obvious show of support to him.
 
He felt Sally take his hand and squeeze it reassuringly, she was still
with him.
 
Kat and Nicci looked nervous,
but they too nodded at the nonverbal question in his eyes.

He took a deep breath, relieved, and said, “Anton, the five
of us will leave you here in the morning, we can travel much faster that
way.”
 
He added his thanks for the
suggestions, maybe the temple idea would work out.
 
He had thin hopes to get the king to approve
an invasion, but he would still try.

He let it drop at that point, and although he was annoyed at
Anton he knew it was partially his fault.
 
He thought, he had assumed, they would fight for the goddess, but
Anton’s concerns seemed solely with keeping his future kingdom intact.
 
He would try to make sure he didn’t make such
assumptions again.

The tense awkwardness slowly dissipated as they moved on to
talk of other things.
 
Anton said he
would follow shortly as soon as all the reports came in from the scouting
parties he had combing the border.

After lunch Kat and Nicci dragged Nora away to chat.
 
Nora had refused to leave until Sally gave
her word she wouldn’t leave his side and he wondered what they were up to
again.
 
Maybe they were splitting up his
time, but it could be anything.
 
He
watched with amusement as they practically dragged Nora away.

He walked with Sally again, not really paying attention to
where they were going.
 
He was so focused
on her, that when she guided him into the tent and behind the blanket of
silence, he was surprised to find himself there.

He looked at her with a question in his eyes, and her face
grew irritated.